Nebula Award News

Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award will be presented to Colin Coyle 

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) is pleased to announce that the 2021 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award will be presented to Colin Coyle at the 57th Annual SFWA Nebula Awards® for his outstanding work on behalf of the organization.

The Service to SFWA Award recognizes a volunteer of SFWA who best exemplifies the ideal of service to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In 2012, the award was renamed in honor of author Kevin O’Donnell, who dedicated 20+ years of volunteer service to the organization.

Colin Coyle

Colin Coyle will join many distinguished recipients of the Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award, including Connie Willis, Victoria Strauss, Julia Rios, Bud Sparhawk, Lee Martindale, Vonda McIntyre, and Jim Fiscus. The award will be presented at the 57th Nebula Awards® Ceremony, taking place the weekend of May 20–22, 2022.

SFWA President Jeffe Kennedy shared the following remarks, “Summarizing all the ways that Colin has served SFWA feels almost impossible. He’s been a pillar of SFWA’s programs for years and this recognition is long overdue. I’m thrilled to add Colin to this list and I know his name on it will set a high bar for those who will follow after.”

For the last five years, Coyle has been instrumental in shepherding the audio/visual component of the annual Nebula Conference. Coyle tirelessly researched and implemented some of the first hybrid conference components seen in the industry at our Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh in 2017. With his attention to detail and expertise, SFWA was able to simultaneously stream some of our live panel and workshop events, including our business meeting, to international attendees and members. 

In 2020, when the Nebula Conference moved entirely online due to the ongoing pandemic, Coyle’s contributions ensured that the virtual Nebula Airship launched with both a professional look and feel. Seamless technical integration meant that the entire conference was now accessible to an entirely new and international audience. In a year where many were forced to stay in their homes, Coyle’s work ensured the community could celebrate together. He led the technical aspects of the Nebula Awards ceremony as well, helping to elevate the once simple stage presentation to a professionally produced show. 

In 2019, when SFWA’s publisher of the Nebula Showcase anthology suddenly ceased operations, Coyle stepped up and rescued the anthology, turning it around quickly through his own Parvus Press. This fulfilled a longtime wish of many past Board members, allowing SFWA to offer copies onsite at the Nebula Conference only a few months later and in addition to the usual retail offerings. 

In 2018, Coyle spent the majority of his time at the San Jose Worldcon volunteering in the SFWA suite. Over 350 SFWA members and their guests attended the SFWA suite that year, a record, which required record volunteer hours to manage. 

For all of this tireless work, dedication, and commitment to the organization, SFWA is proud to offer the 2021 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award to Colin Coyle.

The 57th Nebula Awards® will take place during the 2022 Nebula Conference, an annual professional development conference organized by SFWA for aspiring and established members of the speculative fiction industry. The conference will take place both online and in-person in Los Angeles, May 20–22, 2022. 

Mercedes Lackey Named the 38th SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) is proud to announce that Mercedes Lackey has been named the 38th Damon Knight Grand Master for her contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy. 

The SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award recognizes “lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.” It is named after author Damon Knight, SFWA’s founder and the organization’s 13th Grand Master. Mercedes Lackey joins 37 writers who’ve been granted the title, including other luminaries such as Nalo Hopkinson, Peter S. Beagle, Connie Willis, Ursula K. LeGuin, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey, and Joe Haldeman. 

Embracing science fiction at the early age of ten or eleven, Lackey immersed herself in the works of James H. Schmitz and Andre Norton. An interest in fan fiction strongly encouraged her writing and her first sale was to Friends of Darkover. Her first novel was Arrows of the Queen, first published in 1987. Best known for her Valdemar series, which spans thousands of years and characters, Lackey has written and published over 140 books and short stories through her thirty-four-year professional career. 

SFWA President Jeffe Kennedy had the following to say about the organization’s newest Grand Master, “From the time I read my first Mercedes Lackey book as a young woman, her stories have illuminated my imagination and brought joy to my life. With multi-layered fantasy worlds, canny magical systems, and characters who step off the page as living, breathing people, Lackey’s books have made an enormous impact on the genre. She gave me warrior women I could believe in, magic-wielding queer heroes, and characters who suffered, then overcame their physical and emotional traumas. Lackey continues to have a lasting influence on my own work and I’m beyond thrilled to see her honored as SFWA’s newest Grand Master.”

In addition to her writing, Lackey has also contributed to the science fiction and fantasy filking community through songwriting, which earned her five Pegasus Awards. She was also a part of The Stellar Guild, a project conceived by the late Mike Resnick, which paired well-known authors with lesser known creatives in an effort to boost their visibility. 

An online video gamer, craftsperson, ball-jointed doll collector, radar-enthusiast during tornado season, and raptor rehabilitationist, Lackey’s journeys into all of these hobbies have influenced her most popular works. 

The 38th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master award will be presented to Lackey during the annual SFWA Nebula Conference and the 57th Nebula Awards, May 19–22, 2022.. The conference will be SFWA’s first hybrid event, taking place in person in Los Angeles, and aboard the virtual Airship Nebula online. We will be opening registration soon, so keep an eye on nebulas.sfwa.org for more information! 

Nebula Awards® Showcase 55 now available!

9/9/2021 – The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) spotlights outstanding science fiction and fantasy with the release of the Nebula Awards Showcase 55. This latest volume of the prestigious anthology series, published annually since 1966, reprints finalist and winning works for the 55th Annual Nebula Awards® , as voted by SFWA’s full, senior, and associate members.

The anthology retails for $9.99 in ebook format on most online platforms, including Amazon, Apple, Kobo, and Bookshop.org for the print edition with more retailers coming soon. 

This volume’s guest editor is Catherynne M. Valente, the New York Times bestselling author of over forty works of science fiction and fantasy for adults and young readers. Valente has won a number of awards, including the Nebula, Hugo, Lambda, Otherwise, Sturgeon, and Locus. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine with her partner, son, and a magnificent cat who will not stand to be cut from any bio.

Valente remarks, “The array of nominated works span just about every corner of the genre as it stood in 2019, an incredible spectrum of voices, perspectives, styles, and tales. I’m thrilled to have been able to help in bringing them together to show the truth—which is that we are living, right now, in a new Golden Age of Science Fiction.” 

As part of the celebration of the Nebula Award winners, SFWA has partnered with audio-first entertainment studio Podium Audio to adapt, produce, and distribute the Nebula Awards Showcase 55 in audio format as well. A top publisher of science-fiction and fantasy audiobooks, Podium Audio is at the forefront of discovering new authors and voice artists from the U.S. and around the world. Publication of the audio version will be announced at a later date.

The full table of contents for the Nebula Awards Showcase 55 is below. Winners from the 55th Annual Awards are starred and include Sarah Pinsker, Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone, Fran Wilde, Cat Rambo, and A.T. Greenblatt. New essays on the 2019 SFWA Damon Knight Grand Master Lois McMaster Bujold, the Game Writing Nebula Award, and the Ray Bradbury Outstanding Dramatic Presentation Nebula Award are included, along with full reprintings of the finalist and winning short stories and novelettes and excerpts from the novels and novellas. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

    • Introduction by Catherynne M. Valente
    • “The Best of Twines, the Worst of Rhymes: A Tale of Two C++ies (or, Why Game Writing Is Bad and Great)” by Seth Dickinson
    • “Queering Chaos” by Foz Meadows
    • “Lois McMaster Bujold and Being a Grand Master” by LaShawn Wanak
    • “Give the Family My Love” by A. T. Greenblatt*
    • “The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power” by Karen Osborne
    • “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing” by Shiv Ramdas
    • “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island” by Nibedita Sen
    • “A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde
    • “How the Trick Is Done” by A.C. Wise
    • “A Strange Uncertain Light” by G. V. Anderson
    • “For He Can Creep” by Siobhan Carrol
    • “His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light” by Mimi Mondal
    • “The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye” by Sarah Pinsker
    • Excerpt: “Carpe Glitter” by Cat Rambo*
    • “The Archronology of Love” by Caroline M. Yoachim
    • Excerpt: A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker*
    • Excerpt: Riverland by Fran Wilde*
    • Excerpt: “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom” by Ted Chiang
    • Excerpt: “The Haunting of Tram Car 015” by P. Djèlí Clark
    • Excerpt: “This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone*
    • Excerpt: “Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water” by Vylar Kaftan
    • Excerpt: “The Deep” by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes
    • Excerpt: “Catfish Lullaby” by A.C. Wise

* Winner

Please visit our media kit for the Nebula Showcase 55 here, including social media shareables, cover art, and SFWA and Nebula logos. For more information, contact the SFWA Publications team at publications@sfwa.org.

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SFWA Announces 56th Annual Nebula Award Winners

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 56th Annual Nebula Awards®. These awards are given to the writers of the best speculative fiction works released in 2020, as voted on by Full, Associate, and Senior SFWA members. The awards were presented at the live broadcast of the 56th Annual Nebula Awards Ceremony, hosted by Toastmaster Aydrea Walden.

The winners are as follows:

BEST NOVEL

Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

 

BEST NOVELLA

Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom)

 

BEST NOVELETTE

“Two Truths and a Lie”, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com) 

 

BEST SHORT STORY

“Open House on Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots)  

 

THE ANDRE NORTON NEBULA AWARD FOR MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll) 

 

BEST GAME WRITING

Hades, Greg Kasavin (Supergiant) 

 

THE RAY BRADBURY NEBULA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION

The Good Place: “Whenever You’re Ready”, Michael Schur, NBC (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal)  

 

Additional awards and honors presented:

THE SFWA DAMON KNIGHT MEMORIAL GRAND MASTER AWARD

Nalo Hopkinson

 

THE KATE WILHELM SOLSTICE AWARD

Jarvis Sheffield

Ben Bova (posthumous)

Rachel Caine (posthumous)

 

THE KEVIN J. O’DONNELL, JR. SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD

Connie Willis

 

Presenters joined virtually from around the country, including SFWA President Mary Robinette Kowal, SFWA Vice President Tobias S. Buckell, incoming SFWA President Jeffe Kennedy, and writers and creatives Nisi Shawl, Carrie Patel, Mallory O’Meara, Mark Oshiro, Troy L. Wiggins, and Adam Savage. 

The ceremony can be viewed at SFWA’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The 56th Annual Nebula Awards Ceremony airs June 5!

The winners of the 56th Annual Nebula Awards® will be announced at our annual ceremony this Saturday! SFWA members and the general public can watch live, whether or not you’re attending the Nebula Conference. As previously announced, writer and comedian Aydrea Walden will host for the second year.

 

 

The 56th Annual Nebula Awards Ceremony

Saturday, June 5, 2021

Livestreaming at 5pm PT

Facebook: https://fb.me/e/Mb5vRaLW 

YouTube: http://Youtube.com/SFWA_youtube/live

Last week, we released a trailer for the ceremony that gives just a glimpse of the fun and celebration we have planned for the program: https://youtu.be/jV-LEtHvboI. This year’s presenters include Tobias S. Buckell, Jeffe Kennedy, Nisi Shawl, Carrie Patel, Mallory O’Meara, Mark Oshiro, Troy L. Wiggins, and Adam Savage. 

At both the Facebook and YouTube event links, you can set a reminder to make sure you don’t miss one of the premiere SFWA events of the year! Closed captioning will be provided. We can all take pride in recognizing the fantastic work that the speculative fiction community released in 2020.

Enjoy the show!

The SFWA Events Team

Sponsorship Opportunities for the 2021 Nebula Conference!

Update: Our scholarship applications are now closed with the exception of those for Black writers.

Scholarship for Black Writers: A part of SFWA’s BlackLivesMatter Initiative, this scholarship is open to Black writers in the U.S. and abroad. To learn more about this initiative, visit this release on the SFWA.org website. This scholarship is awarded outside of the lottery system and will be available until June 6th, 2021. Any interested applicants should send an email to events@sfwa.org.

We’re rapidly approaching the 2021 Nebula Conference and our next Airship Nebula voyage!

Are you looking to increase the visibility of your latest book release? Wishing for a private Zoom gathering with friends during the Nebula Awards ceremony or at any time over the weekend? Interested in getting your brand in front of hundreds of conference attendees?

Share this opportunity with your publishers, agents, and other industry friends! Sponsorship is a great way to promote a book or podcast, get visibility for your business, or host a private gathering for fellow authors and clients. We’ll work with you to create a package that fits your needs and budget.

Can’t wait to hear from you!

The Nebula Sponsorship Team

Announcing Scholarships and a Store for the 2021 Nebula Conference!

For the first time, SFWA is opening a store for Nebula Conference-related gear and memorabilia. We are excited to offer this chance to stock up on SFWA and Nebula swag while simultaneously supporting our work to advocate for the speculative fiction genres and writers.

Some of that work includes providing Nebula Conference scholarships for underserved communities within the larger speculative fiction community. To that end, SFWA is offering the following scholarships for this year’s Nebula Conference:

  • Scholarship for Black Writers: A part of SFWA’s Black Lives Matter Initiative, this scholarship is open to Black writers in the U.S. and abroad. To learn more about this initiative, visit this release on the SFWA.org website.
  • Scholarship for AAPI Writers: A part of SFWA’s AAPI Initiative for 2021, this scholarship is available to Asian writers, Asian American writers, and writers from the Pacific Islands. To learn more about this initiative, visit this release on the SFWA.org website. (limited quantity: 25)
  • Scholarship for Writers Based Outside of the U.S.: In an effort to remove financial barriers that may exist for prospective attendees living abroad, we are offering a limited number of free tickets for writers living outside the U.S. (limited quantity: 25)
  • Workshop Scholarship: This scholarship is for writers who have been accepted to or attended a writing workshop from June 2020 through June 2021. (limited quantity: 25)

With the exception of the scholarship for Black writers, which will remain available for all Black writers until June 6, 2021, scholarship applications must be completed on this form by May 1, 11:59pm Eastern Time. From the applicant pool, the scholarship recipients will be selected by lottery.

SFWA’s president, Mary Robinette Kowal, had the following to say about the available scholarships, “There are a lot of gatekeepers in the publishing landscape and with these scholarships, we’re hoping that SFWA can begin to open gates for writers.”

The SFWA Store is branded as The Airship Nebula Gift Shop in keeping with the shared-world experience of the 2021 Nebula Conference Online. That shared world is one aspect of the “Airship Nebula” virtual socializing spaces that are intended to build community among attendees, offering the networking benefits of an in-person conference while hosting it fully online for a second year. Registered participants will receive $20 off their first purchase from the store.

The scholarships and the conference are open to SFWA members and nonmembers alike. For $125 registration, conference participants will gain entry to professional development panels, mentorship opportunities, office hours with experts, an archive of the content, and access to ongoing educational events throughout the following year.

Questions about the scholarships, the store, or the upcoming conference may be directed to the SFWA Events Team at events@sfwa.org.

SFWA Hosts the 2021 Nebula Finalist Reception on Saturday, March 20!

 

This Saturday, SFWA will hold the Nebula Finalist Reception to honor the 56th Annual Nebula Awards finalists.

The 2021 Nebula Award Finalist Reception

Saturday, March 20, 2021

4pm – 8pm Pacific Time

The Nebula Finalist Reception is a night of celebration for the finalists and for participants who have already registered to attend the 2021 Nebula Conference Online. Reception attendees will be able to listen to finalists read from their nominated works, watch the Game Writing finalists demo their nominated games, visit our virtual bar, and network in our socializing spaces using Zoom.

The finalists were announced this past Monday, March 15, as part of the 2021 Nebula Awards Launch (replay on Facebook or YouTube), an evening that featured sizzle reels and performances by SAG-AFTRA narrators of the nominated works. Here is the full list of finalists for all seven Nebula Award categories.

Writers who would like to attend the reception should purchase their registrations for the 2021 Nebula Conference Online to grant them access to the event.

For $125, the June 4–6 conference will include early events like the Nebula Finalist Reception, professional development panels, virtual socializing spaces dubbed the “Airship Nebula,” mentorship opportunities, office hours with experts, an archive of the content, and access to ongoing educational events throughout the following year. Geared toward professional and aspiring writers alike, participants do not have to be SFWA members to attend the conference.

We look forward to welcoming our early registrants for the 2021 Nebula Conference and the 56th Annual Nebula Awards finalists on Saturday! For questions about the event or about the conference, please contact the SFWA Events Team at events@sfwa.org.

SFWA Announces the 56th Annual Nebula Award® Finalists

March 15, 2021 – The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 56th Annual Nebula Awards®.The awards will be presented in a virtual ceremony on June 5, 2021, hosted by returning Toastmaster Aydrea Walden.

SFWA is pleased to welcome back Aydrea for a second year. Walden has written for the series Yin Yang Yo! and created, written, and starred in the Webby-nominated series Black Girl in a Big Dress. She has worked in the animation department on the films The Croods, Home, and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Walden also performs, appearing in her one-woman show, The Oreo Experience: A Total Whitey Trapped in a Black Chick’s Body, the short film Sci-Fi 60, and an episode of The Mandalorian.

 

NOVEL

Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK)

The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US & UK)

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)

The Midnight Bargain, C.L. Polk (Erewhon)

Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga; Solaris)

Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)


NOVELLA

“Tower of Mud and Straw”, Yaroslav Barsukov (Metaphorosis)

Finna, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom)

Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom)

“Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon”, Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald (Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, Aurelia Leo)

The Four Profound Weaves, R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon)

Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom)


NOVELETTE

“Stepsister”, Leah Cypess (F&SF 5-6/20)

“The Pill”, Meg Elison (Big Girl, PM Press)

“Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 5-6/20)

“Two Truths and a Lie”, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com 6/17/20)

“Where You Linger”, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny 1-2/20)

“Shadow Prisons”, Caroline M. Yoachim (serialized in the Dystopia Triptych series as “The Shadow Prison Experiment”, “Shadow Prisons of the Mind”, and “The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma”, Broad Reach Publishing + Adamant Press)


SHORT STORY

“Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse”, Rae Carson (Uncanny 1-2/20)

“Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math”, Aimee Picchi (Daily Science Fiction 1/3/20)

“A Guide for Working Breeds”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)

“The Eight-Thousanders”, Jason Sanford (Asimov’s 9-10/20)

“My Country Is a Ghost”, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 1-2/20)

“Open House on Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20)

 

THE ANDRE NORTON NEBULA AWARD FOR MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION

Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet)

Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)

A Game of Fox & Squirrels, Jenn Reese (Holt)

Star Daughter, Shveta Thakrar (HarperTeen)

 

GAME WRITING

Blaseball, Stephen Bell, Joel Clark, Sam Rosenthal (The Game Band)

Hades, Greg Kasavin (Supergiant) 

Kentucky Route Zero, Jake Elliott (Cardboard Computer)

The Luminous Underground, Phoebe Barton (Choice of Games)

Scents & Semiosis, Sam Kabo Ashwell, Cat Manning, Caleb Wilson, Yoon Ha Lee (Self)

Spiritfarer, Nicolas Guérin, Maxime Monast, Alex Tommi-Morin (Thunder Lotus Games)


THE RAY BRADBURY NEBULA AWARD FOR DRAMATIC PRESENTATION

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, Christina Hodson, Warner Bros. Pictures (Clubhouse Pictures/DC Entertainment/Kroll & Co. Entertainment/LuckyChap Entertainment)

The Expanse: “Gaugamela”, Dan Nowak, Amazon Prime (Alcon Entertainment/Alcon Television Group/Amazon Studios/Hivemind/Just So)

The Good Place: “Whenever You’re Ready”, Michael Schur, NBC (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal)

Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Misha Green, Shannon Houston, Kevin Lau, Wes Taylor, Ihuoma Ofordire, Jonathan I. Kidd, Sonya Winton-Odamtten, HBO Max (Bad Robot/Monkeypaw Productions/Warner Bros.Television)

The Mandalorian: “The Tragedy”, Jon Favreau, Disney+ (Golem Creations/Lucasfilm)

The Old Guard, Greg Rucka, Netflix (Skydance Media/Denver and Delilah Productions/Marc Evans Productions)

The results of the final ballot will be announced at the 56th Annual Nebula Awards® ceremony during the 2021 Nebula Conference Online, June 4–6, 2021. Open to SFWA members and nonmembers alike, the annual Nebula Conference is taking place entirely online for a second year. 

For $125, registered participants will gain entry to professional development panels, virtual socializing spaces dubbed the “Airship Nebula,” mentorship opportunities, office hours with experts, an archive of the content, and access to ongoing educational events throughout the following year.